Among the articles I posted about the Supreme Court is an article discussing the polarization of the court. In recent years, many of the major opinions on the Supreme Court has been divided into a 5 to 4 majority, which is somewhat unprecedented. Most of the 5-4 opinions were conservative holdings, but a sufficient number of 5-4 opinions resulted in more liberal holdings. Justice Kennedy, and later Chief Justice Roberts, sided with the 4 liberal justices often enough to keep the Court from being polarized in just one direction. Obviously that has changed. With the recent term of the Supreme Court, it is clear that there is a 6 - 3 solid conservative majority, with Justice Roberts sometimes sometimes breaking with that majority. Many commentators have questioned how the polarization of the court has impacted its validity as a branch of government.

What impact do you think the compositon of the Supreme Court will have on the institutional credibility of the Supreme Court? Do you feel the current majority will have any consequence on issues important to business interests in the United States? On non-business issues? Interestingly, Justice Kavanaugh recently sided with the 4 liberal justices on the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision allowing anti-trust litigation to proceed against Apple. How might this case impact your assessment of the Supreme Court? In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court extended protections against employment discrimination to persons discriminated against due to sexual orientation--a major extension under the Civil Rights Act, and seen by many legal commentators as a very liberal position. The vote on this case was 6 to 3 -- with a Justice Gorsuch, a Trump nominee and Chief Justice Roberts voting along with the 4 liberal justices. Equally as important, Justice Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion. What impact does this case have on your opinion of the S Ct, if any?

The 2021-2022 term of the Supreme Court issued several major opinions reversing prior Supreme Court rulings with regard to abortion, gun rights and religious freedom. Each of these cases involved constitutional rights and required interpretation of the US Constitution--and resulted in a more conservative interpretation. In the 2022-2023 term, the Supreme Court issued decisions eliminating race as a consideration of college admissions and upholding a businesss right to restrict its business based upon religious beliefs by a 6-3 conservative majority, Bu the Court also issued opinions dealing with voting rights and drawing of legislative districts with a combined majority of the the courts three liberals justices along with some of the more conservative justicesincluding Chief Justice Robertswho seems to be exerting his influence on the court perhaps assuming the role of retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. Many commentators view the most recent term of the Supreme Court as mixed and less conservative than the prior year. I have attached a link to a recent article reviewing the major decisions of the 2022-2023 term.

Based upon what you have read, what are the two prevailing modes of interpreting the Constitution? It is important to understand the difference between interpreting statutes than the US Constitution. What challenges do you see in interpreting the US Constitution that are not present when courts are called upon to interpret statutes?